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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26655757">All We Have Are Moments</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tareacel/pseuds/tareacel'>tareacel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XIV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>All Saints' Wake (Final Fantasy XIV), Big Sap, Biting/nibbling, Body Worship, Deepthroating, Dirty Talk, Enthusiastic Consent, Enthusiastic Oral, F!WoL - Freeform, Fae &amp; Fairies, Fluff and Smut, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Just a collection of scenes, M/M, Making Out Like Whoa, My WoL!, Named WoL, Not chronological order, Oral Sex, Rating May Change, Sass, Sexy Handholding, Sexy Thoughts, Spoilers for 5.0!, Spoilers for 5.3!, Spooky stories, Starlight Celebration (Final Fantasy XIV), Tags will be added as we go, We earned our E rating!, WoL is not part of sexytimes, big feels, mostly - Freeform, slight horror elements in spooky chapter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:46:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,239</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26655757</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tareacel/pseuds/tareacel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Glimpses into what happens when love finds you, even when you are busy trying to save a world.<br/>(Short drabbles and one-shots in no chronological or narrative order, writing just for fun and because these two are tragically underrepresented.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Urianger Augurelt/Thancred Waters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>61</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>141</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This whole thing is dedicated to <a href="https://www.archiveofourown.org/users/sylviaviridian/pseuds/sylviaviridian">Sylviaviridian</a> for being a phenomenal enabler, cheerleader, sounding board and friend.  It's also dedicated to all the lovely supportive souls in The Book Club.  I adore you all.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This was one of those moments of perfect clarity; one long, pregnant instant where everything past and future fell away to reveal the glittering possibilities of <i>present</i>.</p><p>Minfilia asleep upstairs, dinner dishes washed and put away, neither man (yet) intoxicated enough to mask true intent and desire.  Just Thancred, white gunbreaker’s coat long since shrugged off and hung on its designated peg (comfortable, safe, home), and Urianger, fancy shoes slipped off and missing a bracelet or three, standing and staring at each other and hardly an ilm apart.  A moment deferred before, due to circumstances, or drink, or a tired young voice from the stairs.  A moment that for all the intimacy and domesticity that had been created between them, was far overdue.  Charged, strung out and glittering between them, the realization that their hearts were both beating just as heavy, their breaths both coming fast, lips parted as they locked eyes—</p><p>--Before it snapped, drawing them together; hands grabbing, searching, mapping, <i>holding</i>.  Their lips met and melded and parted so that teeth could nip and tongues could meet.  Thancred had gone half up on his toes with Urianger holding him close, and Urianger was bent to meet him, kept in place by strong, blade-sure hands.  No soft, exploratory first kiss; this was a thing of hunger.  Of pent-up passion and adrenaline.  Pulling back to breathe was not an option; breaths huffed out between their lips.  Both were quiet, mindful of their sleeping charge, but Thancred couldn’t quite hold in the moan when Urianger bit at his lip.  And Urianger utterly failed to stifle his surprised gasp when Thancred, ever bold in this, slid his hand into the deep-cut back of his robes and raked nails down his skin in retaliation.<br/>
Once Thancred’s hands had touched bare skin, he showed no intention of stopping.  His hands slid in and out of Urianger’s robes with impunity, caressing and grasping and teasing and simply endlessly touching soft skin and lean Elezen muscle.  Those big, roughened hands cupped Urianger’s shoulder-blades before sliiiiiiding down his back to his waist.</p><p>“Sinful, the way you’re built,” Thancred growled between heated kisses, words breaking the hot silence.  His hands squeezed at Urianger’s waist before roving up his back again.  “Desire incarnate.”<br/>
Urianger managed nothing but a distracted murmur in response, his own hands busy yanking Thancred’s shirt free of his belt in his own desperation to feel skin.  Thancred (again, ever-bold) briefly let go and pulled away just enough to help, shucking the shirt altogether before reaching for Urianger again.  And if Urianger would have liked to have a longer chance to look at the expanse of broad shoulders and muscled body presented to him, he didn’t seem to mind when Thancred pulled him back into an increasingly ravenous kiss.  His hands did the searching instead.  There were scars across Thancred’s strong back, yes, some healed properly by his own magics, others hard and raised and knotted.  Scars that cut across smooth skin and planes of hard muscle.  Scars that continued up onto his shoulders and down his arms and onto his chest.<br/>
Thancred’s hands fisted in Urianger’s robes suddenly as he pulled back with a rough whisper, asking for permission.  Their eyes met, and Urianger swallowed, nodding. <i>”Aye.”</i></p><p>Thancred unwrapped him like a present, his touch reverent as he slid the robe from Urianger's shoulders and down his arms.  Where his fingers brushed, Urianger broke into goosebumps in response.  When the robe was loose around Urianger's hips, Thancred nosed along his bare shoulder and collarbone, inhaling deeply and groaning out his name.  </p><p>Urianger’s bare back hit the wall with a muffled thump that caused the books in the nearest shelf to shake, huffing out a sharp breath as Thancred licked a stripe up his throat before returning to suck a mark onto his collarbone.  One of Urianger’s hands fisted in soft white hair, the other clutched over Thancred’s shoulder, fingers digging into the muscle of his back. The gunbreaker groaned softly, hands tracing Urianger’s lean sides, fingertips splayed over his ribs before traveling down to knot with frustration into the black silk pooled around his hips.  He tugged sharply, pulling Urianger’s hips against his own and shamelessly grinding against his thigh.  At the choked gasp he got in response, Thancred chuckled and moved his mouth lower, licking down breastbone and sternum before biting down between lovely toned pectorals.  He dug his teeth in just enough to drag a gasp of his name from Urianger’s bruised lips before replacing teeth with tongue and lips, sucking another mark.  Urianger, overcome, pulled him back into a kiss before rolling and turning, and then it was Thancred’s back against the wall.</p><p>Urianger broke the kiss with a nip to swollen lips and pulled back to simply <i>look</i>.  Manifestations of soul and aether their bodies may be, he well knew, but that knowledge did nothing to diminish the impact of Thancred’s soft brown eyes, pupils dilated and huge, or the absolute wreck of his hair from where Urianger’s fingers had mussed it, or the shocking pink of the flush that started high on his cheeks and had spread down neck and chest…  and oh, his chest.  Bard and rogue he may have been before, but Thancred had reinvented himself for this world, and his body showed the change.  It had filled out as Thancred put on more muscle, and what had once been trim and lean and flexible was now powerful and broad and heavy.  </p><p>“Twelve, Urianger,” Thancred groaned, pulling him close again.  “You can’t just <i>look</i> at me like that.”<br/>
Urianger blinked and looked down as Thancred rested his head on his shoulder, panting hard.  “…What—” he cleared his throat to attempt to disguise the lust in his voice, “what dost thou mean?”<br/>
Thancred’s huffed out laugh held desperation within it.  “Like I’m a rare, ancient book you’ve just gotten your hands on.  I’m <i>never</i> going to be able to watch you read again now that I’ve seen <i>that look</i> directed at <i>me</i>.”</p><p>Urianger gently ran a hand through that soft white hair again, then took Thancred by the shoulders and shifted him, pulling him into an embrace and resting his cheek atop his head.  The gunbreaker’s arms wound tightly around Urianger in turn and for a long moment they simply stood there, basking in each other’s presence and heat and…whatever this growing feeling was between them.  Finally, Urianger dropped a kiss onto Thancred’s hair and spoke in an uncharacteristically timid, soft voice.<br/>
“Although I wouldst hardly call thee ancient, I….  I do believe thee to be most rare, and special.  Thancred, I—”</p><p>A kiss silenced him again, and this one <i>was</i> soft, and gentle, and exploratory.  Urianger absolutely melted into it, and Thancred was there to catch him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Anything can happen in the woods...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A stay in Rak'tika is cut short by Eulmoran forces.  Thancred does his thing, and Urianger does his.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<b>Now</b>, Urianger!”  Thancred snarled over his shoulder before changing his grip on his gunblade and throwing himself headlong towards the Eulmoran squad that had finally caught up with them in Rak’tika.  </p><p>“Come, child, quickly!”  Urianger took Minfilia by the hand and ran headlong in the direction they had been traveling, making for their hidden campsite made in the roots of a massive tree.  She gripped his hand tightly and Urianger was grateful she did not struggle this time in an attempt to stay behind and help.  He understood her desire, of course he did, but this was no scouting party.  This was a squadron who had known exactly where to look.  Likely, that meant the Children had sold them out and Rak’tika would not be safe for some time.  </p><p>The sounds of clanging steel were replaced by explosive gunfire and Minfilia cried out in worry.  Urianger pulled the two of them into the embrace of a hollowed-out tree trunk and knelt, pulling the girl into his arms and covering her ears.  Her small hands came up to cover his as she trembled in his hold.</p><p>“Hush, Minfilia.  ‘Twill be alright.”  Resting his cheek against her bright hair he listened closely as the crash of steel and pops of gunfire fell into a pattern that he recognized instantly.  That was Thancred; he must have been able to create enough room to move and go on the attack, rather than the defensive.  Urianger swallowed his heart down from its position in his throat and tried to ignore the way his very fingers itched with the desire to be by the gunbreaker’s side, using the healing magic so painstakingly and thoroughly mastered just <i>so</i> he could protect both Minfilia and Thancred… so he would not have to be left behind again by those he loved.</p><p>Wordlessly, he slipped his hands out from beneath Minfilia’s and placed them over hers, commanding her to keep her ears covered.  She looked up at him with those fathomless crystal-blue eyes and nodded.  Checking outside, he quickly ushered them out of their hiding place and guided her towards their erstwhile home.  They kept close to the shadows and Urianger reached out with every sense he had, feeling the very aether for the presence of hostility.  As they moved further away from the fighting, the telltale sounds fell away and Urianger had to content himself with the knowledge that he had not heard Thancred fall, or any cheers of triumph from the Eulmorans.  The thought was only slightly comforting.  He would not be truly at peace until he had Thancred close and properly tended to.</p><p>Slightly less than a malm from their campsite was the stump of another gargantuan tree that had fallen who even knew how long ago.  It was half hollow, and this was their designated meeting spot in the event they were separated.  Both Thancred and Urianger both had been insistent that should the Eulmorans find them, nobody was to approach camp on their own.  Only together.  Just in case.  When they reached the stump, Minfilia darted inside and Urianger did a final sweep of the area with eyes and ears before ducking through the entrance as well.  He sat with a sigh, and Minfilia tucked herself to his side, hands still over her ears.</p><p>“Thou canst remove thy hands, child,” he said softly, touching her arm.  “Art thou harmed?”</p><p>“N-no,” she said softly, resting her hands in her lap.  “I’m okay, thank you.  Are you hurt?”</p><p>Urianger felt a soft, wondering smile cross his face at her concern.  “Nay, I have also escaped unscathed.”  He rested his head back against wood and felt her come to rest against him with a soft sigh of her own.  “Dost thou remember the subsequent step in our plan, Minfilia?”</p><p>“Yes,” came her soft voice.  She sounded exhausted and Urianger’s brow furrowed.  Perhaps if Rak’tika was no longer safe, they could return to Il Mheg for a bit….   “Now, we’re supposed to wait.”</p><p>“Aye.” Urianger murmured.  With a certainty he would not let falter, he reassured Minfilia, “We wait, although I doubt it shall be long.  Thancred will make all haste to returneth to thy side.”</p><p>“Yours too,”  Minfilia yawned.  Urianger was quiet in response, swallowing down his reply.  Minfilia had no need to hear about his fears and worries, and no need to hear about the blossoming relationship between her two guardians.  A blossom that Urianger quietly prayed had not been pruned this day.</p><p>With the sky an unrelenting field of light, it was hard to gauge the passage of time, but Minfilia was still napping when Urianger felt the distortion of aether and heard a soft thump of a body falling against the tree trunk.  Gently, and as quickly as he dared, he shifted Minfilia to rest against the old wood before moving swiftly to exit the shelter himself.</p><p>Thancred was there, shadows draining away from his form as panted hard for air.  As soon as their eyes met, Thancred’s started to slide shut again and he fell forward into Urianger’s arms.  Catching him and holding him close, Urianger propped him against the trunk and concentrated on pulling down power from the light-shrouded stars to channel into healing his lover.  The damage was extensive, but not lethal, and as Urianger worked he could feel Thancred’s heartrate slow to normal, his pulse strengthening and his breathing relaxing.  When he felt a soft kiss against his collarbone, Urianger responded with a soft, scolding noise as he pulled back just enough to look down at Thancred.</p><p>The gunbreaker was wearing a tired, but grateful grin.  “You should see the other guys,” he quipped, before reaching up to cup Urianger’s tattooed cheek in his hand, running his thumb along the sigil they shared.  “And they don’t have a gorgeous Elezen to patch them up back home.”</p><p>Urianger felt his cheeks and ears blush hot at the compliment and leaned down to kiss Thancred silent, ignoring the chuckle against his lips.  The kiss deepened fleetingly, a brief hello-love brush of tongue before Thancred murmured into it.</p><p>“Is Minfilia okay?”</p><p>“Aye,” Urianger nuzzled his way close to Thancred’s ear, breathing in the scent of sweat, steel and gunpowder.  “She hath fallen asleep inside.”  They continued to nuzzle against each other, pressing soft kisses against warm skin.  “Thou appearest recovered to mine eyes, mayhap we should wake her and continue towards—”  he was pulled down into a kiss again, helpless to pull away as Thancred’s hands slid inside the deep back of his robe to touch and stroke his skin in that way that made him absolutely melt.</p><p>“Does that satisfy you that I’m recovered enough, sweetheart?”  Thancred smirked up at him and Urianger flushed again.  The pet name was still new enough that he was not used to it yet.  In fact, after the first time Thancred used it he had been struck dumb by its use, and Thancred had panicked and hurried to make sure that he was not offended.  After being repeatedly assured that he was decidedly <i>not</i>, the pet name made frequent appearances, much to Urianger’s private delight.  </p><p>“Aye,” he finally managed to breath out, doing his best to ignore Thancred’s snicker.  “And thou art a terrible tease, even at a time wherein our lives may still be in danger.”</p><p>This sobered Thancred quickly, and with a final kiss they went and woke Minfilia together.  Her relief at seeing her guardian safe was nearly too much for her to reign in, and their reunion was customarily awkward.  Urianger bit down on the urge to chide Thancred over it, knowing that the gunbreaker was still struggling to come to terms with what had happened to his own Minfilia, and the fact that this one had none of her previous life’s memories.  For someone such as Thancred, Urianger could hardly imagine how much the whole ordeal must hurt.  And so he said nothing, letting the unspoken words and ungiven hugs and unvoiced relief hang in the air.  </p><p>Luckily for all three of them, their camp had not been raided, invaded, or in any other way violated.  Still, it was no longer safe in the forest, and it was time to migrate again.  Urianger had a determined conversation with Thancred while Minfilia sat and imbued more cartridges for him, making the case for returning to Il Mheg.  As with all things he did, he laid out all the most valid and logical reasons…  and then twisted Thancred’s arm by telling him how exhausted Minfilia was, how quickly she had fallen asleep inside the tree trunk.  Thancred’s stubborn expression faltered, and his shoulders drooped.</p><p>“Fine, fine,” he finally agreed.  “I could do with sleeping somewhere that isn’t the ground myself.”</p><p>Urianger let out a relieved breath.  “Aye.”</p><p>“And with some privacy.”</p><p>“I shall not disturb thee.”</p><p>“….Well if you’re not with me, what’s the point of privacy?”  Urianger turned to see Thancred, arms crossed, looking at him with a look somewhere between amused and exasperated.  And then it hit him, eyes widening in surprise before he blushed and looked away, smiling.</p><p>“Ah, I see.  Mayhap Minfilia might play with the pixies for a time…”</p><p>“Oh, that’s fine,” Minfilia said, startling them both.  She placed their bedrolls in a pile on the ground and dusted off her hands.  “I can go visit Uin Nee, and you two can have the house to yourselves.”  She smiled, and Urianger swore he saw an echo of Thancred’s smirk in it.</p><p>Minfilia started gathering up their cookware with a giggle, as Urianger stared at her in shock and Thancred ran a hand down his face, looking absolutely mortified.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. "Every man's got his patience, and here's where mine ends."</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Thancred and Urianger; some alone time, a desk, and a desperate Elezen.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was more challenging than one would think, to back an Elezen up against a wall when one was not also an Elezen.  Thancred couldn’t see, and that wasn’t just because he refused to leave off of kissing Urianger.  He had returned from escorting Minfilia to Pla Enni to see Urianger with <i>his jacket</i> around his shoulders, held closed with one hand while he used the other to page through a book.  And that….what man was supposed to be able to just <i>ignore</i> that?  The moment Urianger had turned to greet him with a knowing smile, Thancred had been on him.</p>
<p>Not that Urianger seemed to mind, quick and clever fingers working the buckles to Thancred’s chestplate and body armor in a bid for skin.  Thancred let him work on it as he focused his efforts on sucking a dark mark onto his throat, blessedly free of golden collar.  He shrugged off the armor, and Urianger yanked his shirt out of his trousers.  Wall, wall; come on this place was not that big…</p>
<p>Books scattered and hit the floor in a cacophony of sound that made Urianger jump in his arms.  Thancred pulled back enough to see that they had hit a desk.  Good enough.  Ignoring the scandalized noise from his scholar, he swept his arm across the desk, clearing it of remaining books.  When he looked back at Urianger, his golden eyes were wide, and as Thancred fucking <i>watched</i>, his pupils dilated in hunger and lust.  Thancred couldn’t help the shit-eating grin on his face, and backed Urianger up, crowding him onto the desk.  He inserted himself between the long legs that spread eagerly for him, taking the opportunity to bunch the robe up around Urianger’s thighs as he went.  He pulled Urianger in for another kiss, then let his hands drop to those gorgeous legs.  His fingers kneaded at slender thighs, thumbs teasing higher and higher as Urianger yanked his belt loose frantically before sliding his hands up Thancred’s back, taking his shirt with them.  Thancred broke their kiss just long enough to let his lover pull the shirt over his head and toss it to the floor.  Their lips met again as Urianger ran his hands all across the newly bared skin, fingers tracing from scar to scar reverently before digging into muscles and kneading in a way that made Thancred moan into their kiss.  Thanking the blessed lucky stars that he wasn’t wearing all of the gold and chains and jewelry that complicated things, Thancred pulled the robe from Urianger’s shoulders and down to pool around his waist.  He moved then, kissing down long, elegant neck and across Urianger’s collarbone to his shoulder, nipping and sucking a mark into the juncture there.  Urianger huffed out a sigh above him before Thancred felt lips and then teeth on his ear, biting just hard enough to sting.  With a little growl, he returned the nip before crowding closer, laying his lover down and licking down pectoral muscle to tease tight circles around a nipple.  He blew a warm stream of air across the skin and heard Urianger bite back a noise, felt long legs wrap around his hips and <i>tug</i> him closer.  His hips met Urianger’s, and he could feel how hard his lover was already.  With a groan, Thancred set to with a will, lavishing nipples, sternum, and muscle with attention.  He felt Urianger’s fingers thread into his hair and bit down on the taut muscle of one pectoral, thrusting gently against him.  Finally, <i>finally</i> that wrung a noise free, and he looked up to see Urianger with an arm tossed over his eyes, panting and flushed; eartips practically red.</p>
<p>“Thancred, prithee—”</p>
<p>“Nuh-uh.  You know how this works by now,” Thancred murmured against his skin.  “If you’re still speaking all fancy, I’m not doing my job right.”  He pulled back with a kiss to Urianger’s breastbone and relished the frustrated growl he got in response.  He unwound the legs from his hips, shamelessly groping bare calves as he did so.  Urianger uncovered hazy eyes and watched him as he backed up, lifting one leg to press a kiss to the inside of the knee, before shucking Urianger of his fancy shoes one at a time.  When both feet were bare on the floor, Thancred bent over and started working on his own boots.</p>
<p>“If thy plan was to render me incapable of proper speech, I fail to see how pausing thus shall accomplish thy goal,” came a somewhat petulant voice from above him.  Thancred snickered, straightening back up and crossing his arms over his chest, looking down at a flustered, positively <i>pouting</i> Urianger up on his elbows and watching him.</p>
<p>“Isn’t it you who’s always telling me patience is a virtue?”  He tried to hold back the smirk, honestly.  “You’re just gonna have to wait a minute while I get these off.”</p>
<p>Urianger huffed, and Thancred went back to his boots.  He heard the movement of cloth over the sound of buckles, and out of the corner of his eye, saw Urianger’s robe hit the floor in a pool of black silk.  His fingers paused for a moment as he swallowed.  From above him, he heard a low, velvety chuckle and cursed, fingers unlacing so fast they stumbled over each other.  Kicking the damned boots off, he looked back at his lover.</p>
<p>Urianger was splayed on the desk, legs spread wide with the balls of his feet planted on the floor, in nothing but the <i>tight</i>, black smallclothes he favored.  The ones that hid nothing when he was aroused, as he very obviously was now.  Thancred swallowed hard, mouth watering as he watched slender fingers play with the edge of the fabric.  In a frantic flurry of desperation, he stripped out of his leathers, leaving him in his own smalls.  </p>
<p>“Fuck, Uri—” he went back into his lover’s arms, shuddering as they embraced him and pulled him close again.  They kissed with fast building hunger and desperation as Urianger’s legs wrapped back around his hips and pulled them flush together.  With a growl, Thancred gave into the feeling and rocked his hips against Urianger once, twice, and then never stopped as they both gasped into their kiss, heat and pleasure building between them.  One of Thancred’s hands wandered up and down Urianger’s thigh as they moved together with intent, but through the pleasure-haze he abruptly realized that grinding like a teenager with his first conquest was not how he wanted to get off today.  For that matter, it wasn’t how he wanted to get Urianger off either.  Even though it took every ounce of restraint he had, he stopped the motion of his hips and pulled away.  Urianger made a noise like he’d been punched in the gut and glared at him.</p>
<p>“Thine insistence on interrupting our shared pleasure hath started to vex me <i>greatly</i>, Thancred.”</p>
<p>“Didn’t I say patience, earlier?  I just… want to do something nicer for you than hump you like a drunk in an alleyway.”  He soothed a hand up Urianger’s thigh in placation.  “Just trust me, okay?”</p>
<p>“I trust thee with my very life,” came the sulky grumble as Thancred searched out a chair.  He pulled it up to the desk and sat between his lover’s spread legs.  Urianger went up on his elbows again, eyes wide as he watched him.  Thancred leaned in and nuzzled at his inner thigh, pressing kisses into the soft skin, leaving little nibbling marks that he soothed with his tongue.  He went higher and higher, nosing at the crease where thigh met hip, and Urianger choked out a noise above him.  When he switched thighs, the noise turned to a growl and Thancred saw motion out of the corner of his eye, reaching up and capturing Urianger’s hand on its way to touch his neglected erection.  He threaded their fingers together and continued to worship the Elezen’s tensing and flexing thigh.  When he had moved to the crux of his legs again, he ran his nose against the silk of Urianger’s smalls, nuzzling the bulge there.  Urianger let out an honest to gods whimper, and Thancred rewarded him by licking a wide stripe over the fabric and breathing out a breath of warm air.  Urianger’s head hit the desk with an audible thunk as he finally broke.</p>
<p>“Thancred, <i><b>please</b></i>!”</p>
<p>Thancred squeezed his hand in gentle affirmation before releasing it.  By the Twelve, it turned him on like nothing else when he finally got Urianger to just drop the formality, not to mention beg.  He pulled back again and stood, but only to pull Urianger’s smalls down his legs and off.  Then he gathered those legs close, draped Urianger’s knees over his shoulders, pinned his hips to the desk, and took him down to the root in one long swallow of flushed, gorgeous cock.  Urianger cried out beneath him, fingers immediately grasping at his head, holding him there.  Thancred swallowed around him, massaging the length of him with his tongue and throat before pulling back just enough to breathe, hollowing his cheeks as he did so.  He chanced a look up and the sight ripped a moan from deep in his core, Urianger staring down at him with a desperate, vulnerable hunger on his face and in his eyes.  The moan set off an answering cry from his lover and Urianger’s thighs trembled around him.  Thancred gentled him back down from the edge, sucking and bobbing his head in long, slow passes.  After a few minutes, Urianger’s hips started to flex under his hands, trying to meet him on the downward stroke, and Thancred relaxed his grip slightly to let him have a bit of room.  Urianger’s hands left his hair, and Thancred looked up to find that the Elezen had them tangled in his own, head tossed back as he panted and fought for breath.</p>
<p>When his jaw started to ache, Thancred pulled up off Urianger’s cock, replacing his mouth with his hand, and sat back down as he moved lower.  His tongue played over tight balls before he sucked one into his mouth.  Urianger’s thighs shook around him again and Thancred growled, his other hand sliding into his own smalls.  He was aching, his own erection hard as steel and desperate for touch.  He started to mirror on himself the rhythm he was using on Urianger, eyes sliding closed in pleasure.  He nosed underneath Urianger’s balls, licking at the span of skin there and rubbing hard with his tongue.  He felt Urianger tense, heard one ankle pop suddenly as his lover’s toes curled hard and he cried out--</p>
<p>“Thancred!”</p>
<p>“Are you close, sweetheart?”</p>
<p>“By the <i>gods</i>, yes!   <i>Please</i>!”</p>
<p>Thancred’s hand sped up on his own cock as he reared up out of the chair, bending over and swallowing Urianger down to the root again and moaning around him.  Urianger went to pieces with a curse and a cry, hands back in Thancred’s hair and pulling hard.  Thancred drank him down as Urianger thrust into his mouth, spilling down his throat.  He stayed there, working himself harder until he started to feel lightheaded with the pace of his own hand, the urge to come, and the need to breathe.  When he pulled back, licking his lips, Urianger immediately sat up and reached for him.  </p>
<p>“Tell me what I can do for thee,” he panted into Thancred’s ear, hand covering Thancred’s own even as he fought to get his own breath back under control.</p>
<p>“I’m close,” Thancred groaned against Urianger’s damp neck, licking and mouthing at the skin, “just from watching and hearing you come.  Just….” He moved his hand and groaned as he felt Urianger’s long clever fingers close around him, picking up the rhythm he’d abandoned.  “Fuck yes, just like that….”</p>
<p>Urianger held him close, murmuring praise into his ear as he worked Thancred hard and fast with his hand.  Thancred braced himself on the desk as his knees buckled, and Urianger’s other arm tightened around his back, holding him up, holding him steady.  His thumb ran over the top of Thancred’s cock, pressure sweet against his slit, and Thancred’s world went white as he cried out into his lover’s neck.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>When he could move again, he fell back into the chair, bringing Urianger with him off of the desk and onto his lap.  Together they rested, panting for breath and basking in the afterglow, trading lazy kisses and touches, breathing each other’s air.</p>
<p>After a time, Urianger lifted his head and looked around.  “We hath made a terrible mess of things…”  Thancred looked at the books littering the floor, cracked spines flopped open and loose pages spread over the top of the wreck.  </p>
<p>“Regretting desk sex?”</p>
<p>“Nay, not at all,” Urianger looked back down at him, a sly smile on his face, and kissed him again.  “Merely making an observation.  Mayhap we shall find new homes for the tomes displaced in aid of keeping this desk free of clutter in the future.   What sayest thou?”</p>
<p>Thancred pulled him closer, arms wrapping around his waist, and grinned back up at him.  “I sayest that you’re still recovering way too fast for my liking if you’re returning to your fancy talk this quickly.  I’m gonna have to work on that.”</p>
<p>Urianger hummed in agreement, smirking challenge down at him.  “I shall look forward to it.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. As Long As You're Mine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>When you feel like you're waking up from a 5 year long dream....  how do you figure out what was real enough to survive the wakening?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Recovering from being essentially comatose for gods knew exactly how long was a frustrating and surprisingly exhausting process. At first, the most that any of them could do was lay propped heavily up against pillows and manage to lift an arm to feed themselves or have a drink. And although they had two very caring and determined Lalafells looking after them, the lack of privacy began to chafe. Their nursemaids were always present, ever watchful, and they'd been through so much lately, who could be cruel enough to tell them to back off a little? During convalescence, each Scion learned things about the others that they hadn't especially needed or wanted to know, and the lack of time alone was especially nerve-wracking for two Scions who very desperately needed to have A Talk.</p>
<p>Thancred rolled over in bed with a grunt, laying on his side and staring across the gap at the Elezen in the next bed. Almost everyone was napping, rebuilding their energy from their morning efforts. Urianger held a cup of tea in his hands, propped up on pillows with his eyes closed peacefully. Thancred stared openly at his profile, elegant and striking and beloved. He didn’t <em>think</em> Urianger was asleep, and liked to think that by this point, he would know. But that was a bit of the crux of the matter, wasn’t it. He and Urianger had two years, <em>two years'</em> worth of feelings between them. Only slightly less time’s worth of memories of bare skin, scorching mouths, greedy hands and some of the most amazing, fulfilling sex Thancred had ever experienced. They were nearing their one-year mark of having finally made things official, at least between the two of them; lovesick words of desperation spilling from Urianger’s lips one warm, Il Mhegan summer's day. He had confessed, nearing tears, that he didn’t <em>want</em> to keep secrets from Thancred anymore, and needed him to know how he really felt. And what could Thancred say to that, other than the truth that he felt the same, had felt the same, <em>still</em> felt the same?</p>
<p>They made love that night, laughing as they realized they had never really done anything but, and then every night they could ever since. For nigh on a year.</p>
<p>A year that didn’t…exist on this world. A year that was stuck in an odd sort of limbo of having happened, but not having happened <em>here</em>. And Thancred was privately panicking that Urianger would, for some reason, take this as an opportunity to go back to his old, withdrawn, and isolated self. That what happened on the First would stay on the First, and Thancred would be left alone again. By the Twelve, they hadn’t even touched each other since waking up… what if all that chemistry, all that love… what if it simply didn’t exist between their physical bodies like it had between the bodies manifested of soul and aether? And shouldn't a connection forged between souls be more powerful than one based on physical lust alone? Could that be enough, were their physical bodies not attracted to each other?</p>
<p>Thancred’s gaze shifted down to the elegant, long fingers holding the teacup, and he sighed softly. When he looked back at Urianger’s face, the Elezen’s warm golden eyes were open and looking back at him. Their gazes caught and held, and as he often did around Urianger, Thancred had the feeling of his lover staring straight at his very soul. He managed a crooked half-smile, half bravado and half worry.</p>
<p>“Hey,” he murmured.</p>
<p>Urianger studied him for a long moment, then his eyes crinkled up at the corners and his lips curved into a smile that made Thancred’s heart explode into butterflies. Without saying a word, he shifted, placing the empty teacup on the bed and reaching across the gap towards Thancred. Without an onze of hesitation, Thancred reached across to meet him, turning his hand so that their fingers could twine together. Urianger held him fast, eyes never leaving his. There was no trace of uncertainty, no hint of reluctance, and Urianger’s thumb smoothed over his knuckles in the soothing way it always had. Thancred let out a shuddering breath, his smile widening in relief. He squeezed Urianger’s hand gently in his own and let his own thumb move in counterpoint. He grinned as Urianger’s eyes closed in pleasure, the Elezen breathing in deeply at the sensation. Same response he’d always had to such an affectionate, intimate touch.</p>
<p>Maybe this would be okay.</p>
<p>“How are you feeling?” He ventured.</p>
<p>“Better, now that thou hast soothed mine own trepidations.”</p>
<p>“Me? But I didn’t do anything.”</p>
<p>“The worry on thy face mirrored the feelings in my heart, and when I saw that selfsame concern of mine reflected in thee, I knew then I had no reason to fear.”</p>
<p>Thancred knew the smile on his face was huge, and relieved, and probably goofy as all hell, but he didn’t care. “Hey, you aren’t getting rid of me that easily now that I’ve gotten used to your constant lecturing.” He was aiming to defuse a bit of the raw emotion hanging between them, suddenly embarrassed he'd been so transparent, but Urianger didn’t play his role. Instead of huffing and taking umbrage, he held Thancred’s gaze, half leaning and half tugging their hands close enough to grace with a soft kiss.</p>
<p>“I love thee,” he murmured, “with a love that shall not die; not 'til the sun grows cold and the stars grow old.”</p>
<p>Thancred’s breath caught, and he swallowed hard, tugging their hands back across the gap and leaning forward to kiss Urianger’s in turn.</p>
<p>“I love you, too.”</p>
<p>Yes. Maybe this would be okay. Maybe this, of all he left behind on the First, this he would be allowed to keep.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Talk Nerdy to Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kinktober Prompt #1:  Dirty Talk  </p><p>After the First is saved, there is a party at the Crystarium.  The attendants include one enthusiastically flirtatious Hyur and one quietly overthinking Elezen.</p><p>A/N  Credit is due to Finksalion for the use of Finks, as well as due to TheSpectralDuke for the use of their WoL Tahla.  Both can be found as authors on AO3.  Thanks, you two!  ;)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The entire Crystarium, specifically minus a certain Warrior, was celebrating in high spirits.  The Scions were fanned out throughout the crowd, celebrating with those they knew and cared for.  Lyna was even hovering at the side of a still-recovering Exarch, and all were enjoying the festivities.  Wine and ale and other spirits were flowing freely, bards had put aside their more combative skills simply to play music that others were dancing to, and the atmosphere was jubilant.</p><p>Urianger was stood in a corner, quietly watching.  Much earlier, he had spotted their Warrior companion up on the balcony but had let her be.  Brywnn had not been the same since destroying Emet-Selch, her reactions muted in what, Urianger could tell, felt to her a pyrrhic victory.  He felt similarly, if he was honest, although in the end there had truly been no other choice.  He would attempt to find her later, perhaps tomorrow. Her absence from the party had been noted by many, but thanks to primarily Alisae, Thancred, and himself, she had been allowed the time to process…whatever it was that was haunting her.</p><p> </p><p>Speaking of Thancred…</p><p> </p><p>The gunbreaker was the focus of attention of many. Mystel, Hume, Elf… all women. And all ringed around a very obviously in his element Thancred, flirting and cooing and letting a Mystel girl feel up his bicep on one side while holding his gunblade in the other, showing off to a wide-eyed Hume woman. And sat on the barstool across from him, a long-legged, elegant Elf woman ran her foot up his ankle, his calf… another Hume spoke to the bartender, and a flagon of ale appeared at Thancred’s elbow.</p><p>Urianger had seen this play out before. And like hell was he going to allow it to happen right under his nose. Not with their relationship the poorest kept secret amongst the Scions. Not with Ryne here…somewhere… And <em>not</em> while he was standing there <em>watching it happen</em>. He was not jealous, no. He was <em>concerned</em>. (He was lying to himself. He did not care.)</p><p> </p><p>Striding towards the ring of thirsty females, Urianger formed a plan. It was not that he blamed Thancred for being such a magnetic personality, or such an attractive man, or so…easy with his affections. To tell Thancred he could no longer schmooze and flirt would be to get rid of one of the pieces of what made Thancred, <em>Thancred</em>. And that, he did not wish to do. But over and over, he had seen this scene repeat. Thancred surrounded by beautiful, willing women. Thancred getting progressively more and more intoxicated. Thancred eventually taking one, two, or even three off with him to some secluded location and… Clenching his jaw, Urianger fought back against the bitter chill of jealousy clawing up his throat. No. For this to work, he must not come off a jealous, spurned lover.</p><p> </p><p>Walking up to the bar, Urianger ordered his own glass of wine.</p><p> </p><p>“Urianger!” Thancred spotted him, and Urianger could not tell whether his cheeks were pink from drink or sudden embarrassment. “Uh, let me introduce you. This is uh…,” he looked at the Mystel hugging his bicep and looking up at him with doe-eyes, “Tahla. And this,” he gestured to the turquoise-haired Hume eyeing him and his gunblade with equal lust, “is Finks. And uh….” He trailed off as Urianger looked at him, accepting his glass of wine. Smiling innocently at him over the rim, Urianger murmured,</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll add them to the list.” The women turned as one to look at him in confusion. Thancred laughed nervously.</p><p> </p><p>“What list?”</p><p> </p><p>Urianger cleared his throat. And then, with the memory and enunciation of a scholar and a teacher, he began to recite. Each name, a conquest. Each location, a bar or bazaar or tavern. He didn’t hold back, even when Thancred’s face turned from blush to deep pink, and as he went on, to scarlet. He didn’t stop, even as the crowd of women Thancred had been teasing and titillating split off and went their own ways. Some cast Thancred dirty looks, but most glared at Urianger for (rightfully) being the cockblock he was.</p><p> </p><p>“Enough, Urianger,” Thancred hissed at him finally when they were alone. He was obviously uncomfortable, arms crossed and looking away. Urianger studied him for a moment.</p><p> </p><p>“Art thou cross? Have I ruined thy plans?” Not that he would be contrite if he had.</p><p> </p><p>“What <em>plans</em>, Urianger?” Thancred looked at him, annoyed and confused and…oh, and hurt. Urianger’s heart pinched slightly. “Did you really think I was looking for a bedmate for the evening? They were having fun, I was having fun. It wasn’t going to go any farther. You can’t expect me to just change who I am. Did you honestly think that I would somehow forget about <em>you </em>when confronted with a few pretty women?” He leaned forward. “As if any of them held a candle to you. As if any of them have been through hell with me the past three years. As if I would do that to you, even if you weren’t standing <em>right over there</em> in my <em>line of sight</em>. Do you honestly think I’d do that?”</p><p> </p><p>Chastened slightly, Urianger looked away.</p><p> </p><p>“Jealousy doesn’t become you, sweetheart,” Thancred said softly. “Don’t you trust me?”</p><p> </p><p>“Aye,” Urianger said, just as soft. “With my life, do I trust thee.”</p><p> </p><p>“And with your heart?”</p><p> </p><p>“That…” he could not look at Thancred, and placed his nearly full wineglass back on the bartop, watching the wine swirl within. “I trust thee with mine heart, but alcohol hath a history of turning thee into a man not to be trusted to even remember the names of the women he beds.”</p><p> </p><p>There was silence. He could feel Thancred looking at him. He waited, having said his piece, for his lover to formulate a response. Finally, the gunbreaker groaned out a sigh.</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t even argue with that. You’re not wrong in the slightest and even I know it. Fine.” He reached out and touched Urianger’s hand, and Urianger looked at him. “How about this; if I’m at a party, I’ll stick to water only, unless you’re at my side. Deal?”</p><p> </p><p>“Truly? Thou wouldst do this?  For me?”</p><p> </p><p>“Mmhmm. My word as a gunbreaker. That’s sacred, you know.” Thancred smiled and winked at him. “How about it?”</p><p> </p><p>“I accept,” Urianger smiled, relief and surprise and not a little embarrassment at his overreaction warring in his heart. “Wilt thou accept mine apology? Mine actions were…overblown.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sure you can make it up to me,” Thancred grinned, leaning close to murmur in Urianger’s ear, “speaking of ‘overblown’, how about you and I ditch early and go back to my suite in the Pendants?” He darted in, licking the point of Urianger’s ear before continuing in a soft, velvety murmur that turned the Elezen’s legs to jelly. “Thou canst wrap thy lips around my shaft, worshipping my cock as thy penance. Thy sweet, sweet mouth hath run rampant through mine every thought ever since I saw thee across the room, staring; watching. I fantasized about thee, how it would be for thee to storm over in a fit of jealous fury and claim what is thine.”</p><p> </p><p>By this point Urianger was trembling, gasping for air and praying nobody was watching them. He felt Thancred smile against his ear. “Wouldst thou have me bent over yon bar with my legs spread for thee? Thy hands on mine arse, thy wicked tongue inside of me? Or wouldst thou have pulled me from this very stool, shoved me to my knees, and speared my throat with thy cock, claiming my mouth for all to see?”</p><p> </p><p>“Thancred—”</p><p> </p><p>“Thy hands in my hair, holding my head steady for thy use, my lips wrapped around thee and swallowing thee whole—”</p><p> </p><p>“THANCRED.”</p><p> </p><p>The gunbreaker pulled back with a cheshire grin, licking his lips. “Yes, Urianger?”</p><p> </p><p>Oh like hells was he winning this easily. Two could play at this game of dirty talk. Thancred might have known what got Urianger hot and bothered, but the reverse was also true. Urianger leaned in, grabbing at the lapel of Thancred’s coat, and all but growled in his ear,</p><p> </p><p>“Pendants. <em>Now</em>. I am going to shove you down, strip you naked, and <em>fuck you so hard you cannot sit straight tomorrow</em>.”</p><p> </p><p>He left Thancred sitting there, stunned and flushed and noticeably hard, and began to walk briskly towards the aetheryte. It took a moment for his lover to gather his thoughts, and then with a loud, heartfelt curse, Urianger heard the sound of jogging feet behind him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. These are Dangerous Woods!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>On the eve of All Saints' Wake, Urianger sets his talents towards reciting an elaborate folktale....</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Although there was no night in Norvrandt, and the peoples of the First had never celebrated such, for those of the Source it was still the evening of All Saints’ Wake.  And in Il Mheg, surrounded by the fae and magic at every turn, Thancred and Urianger had agreed to show young Minfilia a bit of fun.  Urianger made sweets, Thancred made lanterns with materials bartered from the Nu Mou, and they had used all the Shelves’ spare quilts to block out the light that peeked through the shutters.  With lanterns and candles lit, the three sat in a comfortable triangle on the floor and ate treats.  Thancred told Minfilia the story of the Saints and how the holiday came to be, and Urianger idly shuffled cards and read all of their fortunes.  Minfilia had a blanket wrapped around her bright hair and was eagerly watching her guardians.</p>
<p>“You know,” Thancred smiled wickedly, “it’s a custom to tell ghost stories on All Saints’.”</p>
<p>“Mayhap for thee,” Urianger said, fingers idling over a card, “’twas never the custom in the Leveilleur household, for Master Alphinaud could not handle such a fright before bed.”</p>
<p>Thancred snorted.  “You’re telling me that the Alisae that we both know, the <em>gremlin</em> that is Alisae Leveilleur, never told ghost stories on All Saints’?”  He leaned forward, eyes twinkling in the low light.  “Come now, Urianger.  You can’t tell me you and Alisae never shared stories in secret after Alphinaud was in bed.  Not <em>ever</em>?”</p>
<p>Sighing, Urianger flipped over the card.  The Spire, upright.  Sudden upheaval, change, chaos.  An omen that had been visiting him far too frequently of late.  Frowning, he shuffled it back into the deck.</p>
<p>“Bet you I can tell a better story than you,” Thancred needled him, and Urianger looked up at him, eyes narrowing.  </p>
<p>“Dost thou truly believeth in thine ability so wholeheartedly?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Thancred said, leaning a bit into his space to grin, all teeth.  “I dost.”</p>
<p>Ignoring him, Urianger sat up straighter and looked at the candle in the middle of their circle.  And then he began to speak.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>The Fuath are masters of glamours.  With very little effort, they are able to create fantastical landscapes, conjure illusions both beautiful and wondrous to behold, and bedazzle those who venture into their domain.  Legend has it that to capture one of these fae creatures away from the water is to have power over it, and to get away, a Fuath is willing to promise all sorts of beautiful, magical, wonderful things.  But to find a Fuath is to court danger, for they are creatures born of drowning, and because of this they hate the living.</p>
<p>Now in the time of Voebert’s reign, the Fuath’s ancestral home was the deep, ancient wood, where all sorts of magical things lived.  At the heart of that wood was a great lake, spawning rivers that lead to the ocean.  Few were the living who had seen the lake, for the path to get to it was treacherous, and those who made it so far in would swear that the woods themselves would whisper.  Warnings.  Promises.  Often, those that returned from the deep wood were never the same again.  Despite this, there were still hunters of treasures and magical things who would bravely venture inside.</p>
<p>One such person was a young man, hunting his fortune in the wood.  Rare white truffles grew there, and a basket of these was worth near a year’s wages.  His hunt had been successful thus far, and he continued further and further into the wood.  After a time, his stomach began to growl so he began to search out a place to eat his lunch.  He heard the sound of water nearby, and headed towards it, suddenly thirsty beyond belief.</p>
<p>When he arrived, he was startled to find a young woman already seated by the creek, a basket of wild strawberries sat beside her.  She jumped in surprise when he appeared, blue eyes wide and dark hair blowing in the breeze from the rushing water.  He apologized for scaring her and showed her his own basket.  He sat, and they began to talk.  She was from a village a few miles from his own, the daughter of a baker.  Her father had sent her into the wood for berries.  As they shared their lunches and spoke, the young man thought that he had never seen a lovelier girl.  She had a wicked sense of humor, was bright and cheerful, and beautiful besides.  He asked if he could accompany her, and they could search for both berries and truffles together.  She agreed.</p>
<p>Deeper into the wood they went, and the cover became denser; the light became darker.  He had never been this far into the woods before, yet with the girl at his side, he was unafraid.  Besides, the truffles were growing thick and plentiful here, and not only had he filled his basket, but had taken off his jacket and tied it to make a bag for more.  He would be rich when he returned!</p>
<p>Out of nowhere, something snagged his boot and he fell, scattering his truffles.  With a confused frown, he looked back to see a tree root where there had been no root before, and his foot had been caught by it.  Untangling himself, he started to gather up the fungi.  On the other side of the creek, which they had been crossing back and forth, he heard the girl call out that she had found more berries and would he come to help her.  He stood, jumping when he felt branches like fingers scratch up against his cheek.</p>
<p><em>Help me,</em> the leaves seemed to whisper, echoing his companion.  <em>Help me, help me</em>.</p>
<p>Slightly unnerved and not willing to admit it, the young man set off to cross the creek again.  It was deeper here than it looked, and he immediately went up to his knees, cursing.  Making his way through the current, he clambered up onto the opposite bank.  She came to meet him, concerned from all the splashing, and was dismayed at how soaking wet he was, telling him he’d catch his death of cold.</p>
<p><em>Death,</em> the branches rasped, <em>Catch death</em>.</p>
<p>Do you hear that, he asked her.  Frowning, she listened, but the trees were quiet.</p>
<p>They picked her berries and continued deeper into the wood.</p>
<p>The trees grew closer now, crowding them towards the bank of the creek, and for the first time, he grew wary.  There was no way they would find berries or truffles with the trees growing this close.  Skeletal branches grasped at his clothes, his hair, and more than once he had knocked loose a dead branch that had hit him in the head or face.  </p>
<p>She agreed, looked around, then pointed; across the creek the way was much more open, with the bushes and undergrowth that would hold what they both searched for.  </p>
<p>They made their way down to the edge of the water.  It was more open here already, and sun dappled the water.  He looked at her and saw that her hair was damp and stringy with sweat.  Her face was smudged with dirt and stained with berry juice, her lips pale from exertion.  Yet even as he looked at her, he found her beautiful.  Captivating.  The water here was far too deep to cross, but she pointed to a fallen tree that stretched from side to side a bit further ahead.  He followed.  When they reached the tree, she insisted on going first.  She was lighter and would better be able to gauge if the tree could hold his weight.</p>
<p>She made it out to the very center before it cracked.  She turned to look at him, eyes wide with fear, and then the tree gave way.  She fell with a scream into the water.  He did not wait to see if she surfaced, immediately diving in after her.  The water here was slow-moving and deep, murky, tinted green.  He couldn’t see.  He came to the surface, looking any signs of her.  </p>
<p>There! She sputtered to the surface, splashing, and then went under again.  He dove under and swam towards her.  Through the murk he saw a flash of pale skin; the movement of skirts.  Had she really been so far ahead?  He surfaced again, but she was nowhere to be seen.  He swam to where he had seen her, and dove again, searching and searching.  Ahead, he saw movement, something else swimming through the water.  Suddenly afraid that his companion had been dragged down by some sort of water beast, he swam after, hoping he could get to her in time.</p>
<p>No matter how fast he swam, he could not catch what moved ahead of him, but he was driven to try.  Surfacing only for air, he kept swimming, eyes stinging with the grit and murk in the water.  Going against the current sapped his strength, and he was exhausted, but he could not, could <em>not</em> abandon her.  He kept his eyes square on the creature in front of him that sometimes kicked out like a human, sometimes seemed to have scales like a massive fish, and sometimes seemed reptilian.  He had to save her.  He had to.</p>
<p>A huge pit opened up before him, the bottom of the river dropping away, and he clawed his way to the surface, screaming.  A lake, wide and pristine and covered in weed and lily pads…  </p>
<p>And in the center of it all, a [i]palace[/i].  Half-submerged in sparkling clear water, the light breaking in through the trees casting dappled shadows.  The palace itself sparkled in the light, almost as if it were made of glass, or even water itself.  Lilies and other water blooms were its gardens, and huge lily pads formed a walkway leading to its gates.  And on the first lily pad…oh!  She was alive!</p>
<p>He called her name, desperate.  And she turned….and he saw her for what she truly was.</p>
<p>Beautiful, ethereal…  she seemed to glow from within.  This girl that he’d met, laughed with, traveled with…  Her blue eyes were blue as the deep waters, he could see this now, and the light within them moved much the same.  Her hair moved as if caught in a current of its own.  Her skin, flawless and smooth as a river pebble, aside from the sparkling of myriad tiny scales scattered across her smiling face and the arm reaching for him.  A water fairy.  A nymph.  Beautiful and fantastical and as she helped him onto the lily pad and helped him stand on shaky legs, she promised that she was <em>his</em>.</p>
<p>So few men had the strength to make it to her lake, she told him, whispered against his lips before she kissed him.  Her lips were chilled by the water; she smelled of petrichor.  She’d been so lonely, she told him, leading him towards her palace home.  She hoped he’d stay awhile, she said as they drew near.</p>
<p><em>Lonely</em>, whispered the wind in the leaves.  <em>Ssssstay</em>, was the rush of water over the steps of the palace.  …Wasn’t it?  <em>Stay with usssss;  sssstay…..</em></p>
<p>He stopped, frowning slightly.  Something writhed in the back of his mind; a thought, a reminder…a deep lake in the wood….</p>
<p>Her hands came to his cheeks and he jumped.  Chilled from the water.  Clammy.  She went up on her toes, murmuring to him in concern, and he shivered as a cloud passed over the sun.  </p>
<p>Her eyes, her deepwater blue eyes were black; bottomless, fathomless deep…</p>
<p>She pulled him into a kiss.  Her lips were slimy; she smelled of rot.</p>
<p>He pulled away and nearly overbalanced.  Webbed, mottled hands with long, broken nails gripped his arms, pulling him back upright before plunging them both into the water.  The lake around him erupted into whispers in a language he did not understand.  Mocking laughter, sibilant hisses, and one word, repeated over and over.</p>
<p><em>Stay</em>.</p>
<p>He forced himself to look at her.  </p>
<p>Sunken, lidless eyes stared back out of a rotting, skeletal face, white flesh mottled green and purple.  Hair like pondweed floated around her, and she smiled a rictus grin as he began to struggle.</p>
<p>She dragged him deeper, deeper still.  Away from the light, away from the surface, and out of the corners of his darkening vision he saw them.  The Fuath.  Coming from all sides, laughing and chittering, fathomless eyes and rotting, bloated faces.  Clawed hands reached for him.  Held him in their grasp as he fought for his life.<br/>
“This is our Kingdom,” she whispered, caressing his face with her broken fingernails.  “And we want you to stay.  Forever.”  She forced his jaw open, and her kiss sucked the last of the air from his lungs.  The last thing he heard was their wicked, wicked laughter.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Do not go near the water alone; not the creeks, not the rivers, not ponds nor lakes.  Fuath are creatures born of drowning, and with all their hearts they hate the living.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p> </p>
<p>By the time Urianger’s story finished, Minfilia had moved flush to Thancred’s side and was all but hidden by the blanket.  Thancred, for his part, was grinning.</p>
<p>“Did I measure up to thine expectations, Thancred?”</p>
<p>“Yes, Urianger, yes you certainly did.”  The gunbreaker was wearing an utterly jubilant smirk.  “That means you won the bet.”</p>
<p>“There was no formal wager, and thou didst not even—”</p>
<p>“No, no, I forfeit.  I insist.  And the wager was a kiss.”  The smirk widened.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Urianger said softly, leaning closer to Thancred, bathed by candlelight.  “Then I believe I shall claim my winnings.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. It Comes In Waves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Even after years, the events of the time leading up to his rescue from the Praetorium haunt Thancred.  Healing isn't easy...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Inspired by the song Waves by Dean Lewis, which popped up when I was listening and wanting to write a bit of fluffy sweetness.  ...Oops.   </p>
<p>This takes place rather early in their budding relationship, and is the direct result of me replaying ARR and having a Lot Of Feelings I didn't have the first go around.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thancred woke from the nightmare with a choked gasp, clawing at his neck harshly, desperately; searching for the distantly remembered cold sting of cruel metal against his skin.  When he couldn’t find it, he barreled out of bed, going straight to the mirror at the other side of the Shelves’ master bedroom.  The light peeking through the gap in thick curtains was just bright enough for him to see his own face in the mirror.  He stared.  Peered deep into his own eyes, running hands over his own stubbled cheeks as he relentlessly sought the glimmer of another <em>presence</em> inside of himself; another person staring out of his own brown eyes.  A malicious person; manic and half-mad, yet still somehow <em>cold</em> and calculating.  A wave of nausea overtook him for a long moment as memory broke the surface.  Lahabrea was never cruel to his host, no; to imply that he was would have meant that he thought enough of Thancred to be cruel.  Indeed, that he thought enough of any mortal being to be more than passively cruel to any of them in the pursuit of his own goals.  He never taunted Thancred, never played mind-games with him.  It was far simpler than that.  Thancred’s awareness had simply been shoved into a corner of his own mind, effortlessly shut down and controlled while the Ascian…wore him… like a—</p>
<p>Another wave of nausea came again, and Thancred gagged, a hand over his mouth to stifle the noise.  No, the Gods were far crueler than Lahabrea, because ever since he’d been spat out of the Lifestream he’d started <em>remembering</em>.  Things that he—things that <em>his body</em> did while under the control of another.  While Thancred was powerless to do anything but watch in helpless horror from behind the awesome wall of the Ascian’s control.  Oh yes, he’d been aware enough to watch,  and he’d initially fled from the memories, shoving them down, refusing to think about them—he’d seen this enough in others, over the years, to know what he was doing.  He and trauma were close acquaintances.  But by the Twelve… <em>why</em> must he remember?  Lahabrea was <em>dead</em>, yet he'd left Thancred with the fallout.  It wasn't fair.</p>
<p>A sudden, warm hand on his shoulder startled him out of his thoughts and he inhaled wetly, startled to find tears on his cheeks.  Looking back into the mirror, Urianger’s concerned amber eyes met his own.  With a sigh, Thancred reached up to meet the hand on his shoulder, threading their fingers together.  For a long moment, they were both silent as Thancred gathered himself, the last remnants of the nightmare slipping away.  And with it, the last of the feeling that he was a prisoner in his own mind, an unwilling participant while someone else made a masquerade of his life.  He let out a bone-weary sigh as he finally felt himself settle fully into his own skin again.</p>
<p>“Would that I could take thy place,” Urianger whispered, voice husky from sleep and careworn.  “Or that I could at the very least take thy diseased memories from thee.”</p>
<p>Thancred said nothing, simply tugging his bedmate and friend closer by the hand until Urianger was pressed along the length of his back, warm and comforting.  The Elezen’s other arm looped around Thancred’s chest, resting over his heart.  Thancred brought his own free hand up to cover it, breathing more easily from the grounding touches.  Urianger had an utterly disarming habit of knowing exactly what Thancred needed in these moments.  And he, in turn, had his own talents of knowing how to best soothe Urianger through his own painful memories.  Somehow.  Somehow, they seemed to be the salve for each other’s hurts, and Thancred was in awe of it, even as he was thankful for it.  </p>
<p>“Don’t say that,” he finally answered Urianger.  “Your heart’s too gentle; you wouldn't have been able to live with yourself if you’d done what I’ve done.”</p>
<p>“’Twas not thee,” Urianger said softly, bending to nuzzle his face into Thancred’s neck.  Thancred could feel soft kisses pressed there and Urianger’s lips brushing pleasantly against his skin as he continued to speak.  “Thou knowest ‘twas not.  Lahabrea alone beareth responsibility for the atrocities committed by his own self, even done under thy guise as they wert.  ‘Tis no fault of thine.”  A soft kiss was pressed to Thancred’s temple, and he leaned into it gratefully.  “Thou knowest this, I know thou dost.”</p>
<p>Thancred said nothing, unwilling to have a philosophical debate about blame in the middle of the night.  Part of him embraced what Urianger said fully; logically he knew his friend spoke the truth.  Still…</p>
<p>“Dost thou desire to speak on thy dream?”  Urianger asked softly, continuing to hold on to him tightly; a solid, comforting presence.  “I will listen faithfully.”</p>
<p>“I know you would,” Thancred said, resistant to talking, yet restless despite his tired mind.  “And thank you, but no.  Not right now.”</p>
<p>“As thou wilt,” Urianger said in that same soft tone that he likely thought was neutral and accepting.  Thancred wasn’t a spymaster for nothing though, and he could hear the sadness in it.  “Canst thou return to bed with me?  There are hours before morning, yet.”  And as tempting as the thought should have been, Thancred knew he was done with sleep for the night.  He squeezed Urianger’s hands gently before letting them go and pulling away to turn and face his friend.  </p>
<p>“I’d make a poor bedfellow if I took you up on that, Urianger.”  Thancred reached up and brushed sleep-mussed hair, shining silver in the low light, out of Urianger’s face.  “I’d only keep you up.”  He went up on his toes, offering a kiss that Urianger accepted guilelessly, soft and sweet and causing a flutter of butterflies in Thancred's stomach.  </p>
<p>
  <em>Gods, what is this; what are we to each other now?</em>
</p>
<p>“A walk, I think, will do me good,” he said instead.  “Help me clear my head.  Maybe clear out that Killer Bee nest we found yesterday.”  At Urianger’s concerned noise, he rested a hand on the Elezen’s chest over his heart.  “Don’t worry; I’m not addled enough I can’t handle a few Bees, darling.”  He smiled up at his friend, and the fondness he felt when Urianger huffed at being called out made the smile genuine.  “You go back to bed and get your beauty sleep.  I’ll see you with breakfast in a few hours.”  He herded Urianger back into bed, gently bullying him under the covers and tucking him in before leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead.  On impulse, he sat at the edge of the bed, gently stroking a hand through Urianger’s hair until sleep took him again.  Only then did Thancred rise and gather his gear.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He dressed downstairs so as not to wake either Urianger or Minfilia, taking comfort in the now familiar feeling of cloaking himself in the gear of a protector, piece by piece.  He checked his gunblade before sheathing it at his back, grabbed two potions from Urianger’s stockpile “just in case”, and a glass bottle of berry juice to settle his stomach.  He let himself out of the Shelves as quietly as he could, hissing and cursing softly as the bright Light of the outside grated against his eyes.  He squinted, willing his sight to adjust, and took off on a meandering path, patrolling a wide perimeter around the Shelves and the two people he cared about most on this shard.</p>
<p>Possibly most, period.  </p>
<p>He decided not to think about *that* right now.  His mind was not in the right kind of place to ponder his growing feelings for Urianger at the moment, not to mention the wall of complicated emotions that was what he felt for the young girl under his care.  Under his <em>protection</em>.  He’d failed her before.  Failed all of them.  Those of them that were still alive back on the Source, those that had…died.  Because of him.  No because of Lahabrea.  …Because Lahabrea had found <em>Thancred Waters</em>, and all of the knowledge of the Scions and their members contained within Thancred Waters.  He remembered the feeling of surprised pleasure the Ascian had felt when he’d so thoroughly and easily penetrated all of Thancred’s secrets.  The sick sense of <em>approval</em> the Ascian had felt towards him, for being such a <em>useful vessel</em>…</p>
<p>Thancred retraced his steps towards the Bee nest and launched himself at it with a cry.  In the moments of battle, all the memories faded to the back of his mind where they belonged.  The only thing that mattered was eliminating threats to those he cared about and loved.  Like the Voeburt Knights of old, like the brave men and women he’d fought with back on the Source.  Like Papalymo.  Like Haurchefant Greystone, Twelve rest his soul.  Like Moenbryda, his own dear friend.  Like Minfilia; his own dear Minfilia.  </p>
<p>Like Louisoix.  </p>
<p>He wouldn’t fail them all again.  He would not.  Never again would an Ascian have the chance to harm his friends, his family, those he loved; not while Thancred drew breath.  As he’d been the instrument of their destruction before, now he would be their shield, and nothing--- Not Ascian, not Garlemald, not Primal, not Eulmore, not Sin Eater.  Nothing would make it past him, now.  </p>
<p>He’d keep them safe.  He’d keep them all safe, and he would redeem himself.  To Minfilia, both more and less a daughter to him now than she’d ever been before.  To Urianger, whatever they were becoming, caught somewhere between the closeness of friends and the intimacy of lovers.  To the Scions whom he’d failed so utterly.</p>
<p>To himself.  And perhaps then the nightmares could end, and he could make peace with himself again.  </p>
<p>The Killer Bee nest lay in tattered chunks of combs all around him, its occupants either dead or fled, and Thancred felt like he could breathe again.  This, this was his purpose now.  Keep them safe; keep them whole and alive and unharmed.</p>
<p>The rest would work out in time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. All I Want For Starlight....</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The pixies of Il Mheg keep it eternal springtime; so why is Urianger cold?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please excuse any typos or mistakes...  I really wanted to get this posted Christmas Eve, and as my power was out for three hours due to storms, it's now *teeeechnically* Christmas Day and I'm too tired to do a final pass.  XD   MERRY HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cold.</p>
<p>Urianger rolled over, burrowing into the warm, strong body that had been at his back.  He snuggled deeper into the quilt and buried his cold nose against soft, warm skin as Thancred muttered in his sleep and shifted.  Urianger was encircled in loving arms and pulled closer, and with a contented sigh he let sleep pull him back under.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>…<em>Cold</em>.</p>
<p>Urianger awoke again.  Thancred’s arms were warm around him, and his body was warm and comfortable under their quilts but his nose, exposed cheek, and his feet were decidedly chilled.  It was odd enough that it awoke the Elezen fully.  He wriggled out of Thancred’s grasp, but the minute his bare feet touched the floor he yelped and went back under the covers.  Thancred awoke with a soft grunt and eyed him in confusion.</p>
<p>“S’wrong?”</p>
<p>“The floor is cold.”  By the Twelve his voice sounded petulant.  He reminded himself of Alphinaud at age eight, complaining about Sharlayan winter and the need to invent heated slippers.</p>
<p>Winter?  </p>
<p>Urianger wracked his still-tired brain as Thancred rolled his eyes and flopped back down into his pillows.  Impossible.  Of course, it was the right time of the year but Il Mheg did not have seasons.  And so despite knowing that back home it was well into the Starlight Festival, and despite knowing that the peoples of Norvrandt celebrated something similar they called Yuletide, Urianger had not said a word.  He did not want to make Thancred homesick.  He had dreamed of it though, a few nights back.  Dreamed of snow, and evergreens, and the smell of hot chocolate and peppermint.  He had dreamed of kissing Thancred under a kissing ball of mistletoe and holly, their friends around them cheering and catcalling in good fun…</p>
<p>He <em>missed</em> it.  Missed home.  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Laying back down against the pillows and pulling the quilt up to his chin, he frowned; unable to shake the idea that if he looked outside he would see snow, yet unwilling to actually look and be so bitterly disappointed.  With an unhappy sigh, Urianger tossed onto his side, brows knit.  And then an arm slid around his waist and <em>pulled</em>, tugging him back against Thancred, who nosed along his ear and started brushing reverent kisses over his neck.  And ohhh, he wanted to stay pensive but ahhh, it felt so good.  Thancred’s lips were soft, the puffs of breath against his neck hot and ticklish, and Urianger flinched with a little giggle, budging his head against Thancred’s.  </p>
<p>The kisses continued, lavished down and up the length of his neck, and then there were lips on his ear.  He gasped, reaching back and burying his fingers in Thancred’s hair, holding him close.  Thancred licked along the shell of his ear and then blew on it before sucking the tip into his mouth and laving it with his tongue.  Urianger moaned low in his throat, pressing back against his lover and reveling in the feel of heat, and heartbeat and—ah.  </p>
<p>“Thou art randy this morn,” he murmured teasingly, although it lost a bit of its smugness when Thancred nipped the point of his ear and made him go all breathy at the end.  Thancred shifted behind him and slid a thigh between Urianger’s own, grinding hot hardness against his ass and making his stomach swoop with lust.  </p>
<p>“Mmm, and you said you were cold,” Thancred purred in his ear, nuzzling.  “I’m just trying to be helpful and warm you up.”  The kisses returned to his neck and Urianger sighed, his own body moving to arch and press back in counterpoint to Thancred’s hips.  It felt delicious, body and heart both singing under Thancred’s touch, and the melancholy feeling faded under an onslaught of affection.  Of love, of togetherness.  How could he feel anything other than good when Thancred was touching him?  Kissing him?  Sucking marks into his neck like they belonged there (they did).</p>
<p>“Thou canst consider me warmed by thy selfless efforts,” he murmured, gasping when Thancred’s arm tightened around his waist, pulling them flush as his lover’s thigh inched higher and the movement of Thancred’s own hips had Urianger moving, grinding down against the thigh pressed <em>just there</em> against his balls and the underside of his cock through his smallclothes.  “Oh.. Oh, <em>darling</em>, that feels wonderful.”</p>
<p>“Yeah?”  Thancred growled behind him, gravelly with sleep and arousal both as his pace picked up.  “Think you could come like this, this morning?  D’you want to?”</p>
<p>Urianger hummed thoughtfully, mostly for show, and Thancred chuckled breathlessly behind him, biting gently at his shoulder as the hand on Urianger’s stomach slid into his smalls and freed his cock.  Thancred’s calloused fingers and palm wrapped around him loosely, thumb running across the tip and gathering the beads of fluid there.  Urianger stilled with a shudder at the intense feeling, grinding down hard against the thigh between his own.  </p>
<p>“Too much--!” He gasped, and Thancred kissed his shoulder apologetically, removing his hand and tugging Urianger’s smalls down his thighs to the point that the Elezen could wriggle out of them.  His hand disappeared for a moment, and then Urianger felt the last barrier between them fall away as Thancred dealt with his own smallclothes, and his delicious cock, hot and thick and heavy and <em>already slick with desire</em> was pressing against Urianger’s ass and grinding there.  And suddenly, despite how good this felt and how lovely it was to be held this close, this was not what Urianger wanted to do for Thancred this morning.  Turning to face a surprised Thancred, he leaned in for a proper kiss.  They had ceased caring about things like morning breath months ago, another needless obstacle between themselves and the intimacy they both craved.  Their kisses were unhurried, a teasing mix of lingering, loving closed-lip caresses and deep, possessive, and passionate locking of lips and tongues.  One of Urianger’s hands fell to Thancred’s cock where it pushed against his stomach and began to stroke it gently in time to their kisses, swallowing the needy moan his lover gave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He gently pressed forward and over, until Thancred was on his back with Urianger sprawled over him.  Thancred’s hands went to Urianger’s ass, palming his cheeks and gripping before using them to <em>tug</em> Urianger against him, grinding up against him with a growl into their kiss.  Urianger broke the contact with a soft laugh, rubbing his nose against Thancred’s before pulling away just enough to start to move down Thancred’s body.  He lingered as he went, kissing at his neck, his collarbone, his sternum.  Gently nipped at Thancred’s stomach, causing him to flex those delicious muscles packed on as a Gunbreaker.  </p>
<p>“Are you going to--?”  Thancred broke off with a moan as Urianger wrapped a hand around him, scooting back far enough under the covers to nip at his hipbone and then run his tongue along the chiseled V of his hips.  Thancred’s knees bent immediately, drawing up and apart and tenting the sheets and quilts over Urianger’s head and letting all of the warm air out but at this point Urianger did not mind, curled up like a contented cat about to enjoy its favorite treat.  He met Thancred’s eyes, blown dark with lust, and ran his tongue along his teeth before ducking his head and taking the velvety head of Thancred’s cock between his lips.  </p>
<p>“Shit, Urianger-!”  Thancred gasped above him, and satisfaction bubbled up inside the Elezen.  He loved doing this, taking Thancred apart with lips and tongue and mouth and throat.  He was <em>good</em> at it, as Thancred never ceased to praise.  He lavished attention on the tip, swiping his tongue over it like a sweet and wriggling against the slit, sucking down the gush of fluid as Thancred’s cock twitched in his hand.  He stopped playing then, concentrating, and shifted to take more.  Inch by hard, thickened inch, wrapping his hand around what was not in the warmth of his mouth and pressing his thumb along the vein on the underside.  He sucked gently at his mouthful, bobbing his head to feel it rub against his cheek, his tongue, and the roof of his mouth.  Thancred shuddered beneath him, a hand carding into his hair.  Urianger flicked his eyes up to see Thancred’s fixated on his mouth, breathing hard and flushed.  Perfect.  </p>
<p>He took more, swallowing as it hit the entrance to his throat and breathing hard through his nose.  He pulled back almost to the tip, then let his head drop again, taking Thancred back in near to the base and chuckling wickedly as he heard Thancred muffle a cry, his thighs trembling.  Urianger reached up to soothe the trembles with the hand not wrapped around Thancred’s cock and gentled, bobbing his head and sucking at his lover, savoring the feel of him in his mouth and on his tongue.  Each twitch was praise.  Each throb made his own arousal spike and his belly swoon with want.  Thancred had not understood, at first, how sucking him off could get Urianger so hot without being touched, and Urianger had not been able to explain it to him.  In time, Thancred stopped questioning and gracefully (enthusiastically) accepted the fact that his partner was near always amenable to pleasuring him like this.  </p>
<p>“Urianger, yesssss,” Thancred hissed above him as he sped up the pace, both hands in his hair now, caressing his ears and petting thumbs along his hollowed cheeks before going back to cup the nape of his neck or back of his head.  Not pushing, not yet; simply resting or stroking.  Urianger kept the quickened pace, sucking harder at the throbbing heat before he took a deep breath, moved his hand to splay along Thancred’s hip, and took him in entirely.  He swallowed, concentrating on allowing Thancred into his throat and moaning when his nose brushed hot skin.  And oh, <em>now</em> those hands tightened, holding him fast in place as a strangled cry left Thancred’s throat through clenched jaw and gritted teeth.  Urianger swallowed, squeezing him with his throat and sucking hard, his hand slipping down to play with Thancred’s taut, heavy balls, gentling them down from where they drew up tight to his body.  He heard his lover sob out his name, babbling praises and pleading, and pulled back just enough to breathe before letting the head of that lovely cock pierce his throat again.</p>
<p>“Oh fuck, oh shit, Uri--!  Fuck, close!”  Urianger already knew it before Thancred choked it out, attuned to the trembling thighs around his ears, the tightening of the balls his fingers caressed and toyed with, the urgent twitching of the cock in his mouth and down his throat.  He pulled off to breathe again, sucking hard as he moved, and his free hand went to one of Thancred’s, which let go of his hair to grab his hand.  Their fingers twined together, Thancred holding on for dear life, and Urianger squeezed in gentle reassurance before guiding his lover’s hand to his throat and moaning softly when Thancred stroked gently at his neck.  He took Thancred back in again, nuzzling against his body as he swallowed him down into his throat and felt Thancred react with a full-bodied jerk to feeling it from both inside and outside.  A burst of swearing left Thancred in a rush as both hands abruptly let go of Urianger; one to slam down against the bed and one clapping over his own mouth to muffle the howl as he exploded into ecstasy and came hard down Urianger’s throat.</p>
<p>Swallowing him down greedily, Urianger kept him there as long as he could hold out without air, before pulling back just enough to breathe.  He stayed there, sucking gently and petting at the inside of Thancred’s thighs.  When Thancred finally squirmed and made a noise that was more discomfort than pleasure, Urianger pulled back and allowed the utterly spent cock to slip from his mouth to fall against Thancred’s stomach.  Licking his lips smugly, he crawled up the bed and pressed kisses to the Circle mark on Thancred’s neck, snuggling close.  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>To his credit, Thancred didn’t keep him waiting long before turning and wrapping him in his arms.</p>
<p>“Mm, was that my Starlight gift, sweetheart?  If so, it’s one of the best I’ve ever gotten,” Thancred murmured between long, sweet kisses.  Urianger blinked at him in surprise.</p>
<p>“Thou hast not forgotten?”</p>
<p>“So it <em>was</em> my Starlight present?”  Thancred grinned.  “How could I forget?  It’s been what, four and a half years?  Not forty-five.  Haven’t celebrated it though; haven’t had anyone else here for it.”  So saying, he took Urianger’s lips in another long kiss.</p>
<p>“Well,” Urianger murmured, nosing against Thancred’s jaw, “t’was not intended to be thy present, but as I had not planned to celebrate, for fear of causing homesickness in thee, then thou canst take it as such…”</p>
<p>“Works for me,” Thancred said immediately, kissing him again.  “I can’t imagine a better present if I’m honest.  A gorgeous, sexy, <em>naked</em> Urianger in my bed sucking my very soul out through my dick…  Damn fine Starlight present.”</p>
<p>“Having thee in my life like this is more than I could have dared ask for,” Urianger answered softly as he lost himself in sated, warm brown eyes; hoarse both from their activities and from the wall of emotion that suddenly welled up in his heart.  “I love thee, Thancred.”  </p>
<p>The arms around him tightened as Thancred hugged him almost too tightly, nuzzling into his hair.  “I love you, too,” he whispered roughly, “Though gods only know what I’ve done to deserve you.”</p>
<p>Urianger was about to argue the point, or maybe bring up that he was still half-hard and very willing to show Thancred just how deserving he was, when there was a knock at the door.  They both froze.</p>
<p>“Thancred??  Urianger???”  Minfilia’s voice sounded nervous—no; she sounded excited.  “Are you awake?”</p>
<p>“Aye, we’re awake,” Thancred rolled over and sighed, throwing an arm over his eyes.  “But don’t come in.  What are you even doing up?”</p>
<p>“Look outside!”  Minfilia chirped, and they heard her go racing down the stairs.</p>
<p>“Outside?”  Urianger frowned, then scrambled up and drew a linen tunic over his head, making for the window.  “Thancred, ready thyself for a fight---” he threw open the curtains, biting back a curse at the blinding brightness.</p>
<p>The Light glinted off of a wondrous sight; Il Mheg was covered in snow.</p>
<p>Trees and bushes were round and fat with it, the hills were covered in drifts.  The Castle was a sparkling ice palace, twinkling in the Light, and the lake was frozen over.  Urianger’s jaw dropped as he saw Fuath <em>skating</em> along the surface.  Nu Mou had cobbled together toboggans and sleds and were racing each other down the gently sloping hills.  Pixies were making <em>snowmen</em>, and Lyda Lhran had been decorated in evergreen boughs and red bows and Starlight trees….</p>
<p>Starlight trees?</p>
<p>“Whoa,” Thancred said at his shoulder.  “I didn’t think the Fae celebrated Yuletide?”</p>
<p>“’Tis not Yuletide,” Urianger whispered, “and nay, they do not.  But this is… this is <em>Starlight</em>!  And ‘tis everything I dreamed of…  wait.”  He frowned.  “It <em>is</em> everything I dreamed of.  Blast Tyr Beq!  That pixie hath been spying upon my dreams again!”</p>
<p>“But look how perfect it is,” Thancred said gently, winding his arm around Urianger’s waist soothingly.  “It’s just like home.”  They both knew he meant Sharlayan.  Most of their Eorzean haunts did not get snow like this.  “Can you really be angry at them?  They must have done this for you.”</p>
<p>Urianger watched as Ryne, bundled in her coat and boots, ran out into the snow calling out to the pixies who were squabbling over how to best decorate their new snowman.  </p>
<p>“Perhaps,” he murmured, turning a bit into Thancred’s hold and resting his cheek against his hair.  “I suppose then t’would be ungrateful of me to complain and demand privacy from that peeping pixie.”</p>
<p>As if on cue, a bright, glittering pink pixie popped into view.</p>
<p>“Urianger~” they sang, twirling in the air.  “Do you like it?  Happy Yuletide!  Or what did you call it in your dream?  Starlight?  Makes no sense here, we’ve no stars.  But oh, it’s such a lovely holiday, I couldn’t resist.”  They paused long enough for Urianger to graciously offer thanks, then grinned.  “Ahh!  I knew I was forgetting something!”  Tyr Beq raised their hand and gestured at a spot at the top of the window, and Urianger looked up to see a ball of greenery coalesce above his and Thancred’s heads.</p>
<p>A kissing ball.  Of mistletoe and holly.  Blushing fiercely, Urianger went to lecture Tyr Beq, but the pixie merely giggled and flitted away.</p>
<p>“Urianger,” Thancred sounded so <em>soft</em>, and the Elezen blushed fiercely, staring out of the window.  “Did you dream that, too?  Did you dream of kissing me on Starlight?”</p>
<p>“Of course,” Urianger sighed in answer.  “Thou art my beloved.  Who else would I dream of kissing?”  At the resulting silence, he looked down at Thancred and found him smiling.  Thancred reached up and ran fingertips along his ear, and Urianger melted into him.  Thancred pulled him down gently, first pressing a kiss to the Circle tattoo on his cheek, then claiming his lips in a sweet, soft kiss that turned to two, to three, to Urianger losing count.  Then and only then, hearts full and souls light with the joy of the season and their love for each other, did they ready themselves and make their way out into the snow to celebrate.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you enjoyed, dear reader.  &lt;3   Kudos are lovely, comments are life itself.  After 7 years, I'm back writing again, and it is thanks to these two lovebirds.  I have a lot of feelings about Thancred and Urianger, so feel free to talk to me about them!  ^.^</p></blockquote></div></div>
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